Louis Riel, speech to the jury, 1885

Louis Riel was hanged in Regina on November 16, 1885 but his trial occurred in July into August of that year. Riel led the Métis agitation at Red River that resulted in Manitoba’s becoming a province in 1871, but was forced into a lonely exile in the United States. In 1884, the Métis at Batoche asked Riel to help defend their rights against a government that ignored their requests. Riel returned, led a short-lived rebellion, was captured and tried for treason. Here is his speech to the jury in his own defence.

November 16, 2019 2

John A. Macdonald, Pacific scandal, November 1873

John A. Macdonald and his Tories won the first post-Confederation election in 1872. They promised to build a transcontinental railway and there was a nasty feud over the contract between rival entrepreneurs in Toronto and Montreal. Macdonald chose Hugh Allan’s Montreal group. In 1873, someone broke into the office of Allan’s lawyer and found a... Continue Reading →

November 10, 2019 0

Adrienne Clarkson installed as G-G, October 1999

Adrienne Clarkson had a successful career in broadcasting and diplomacy prior to being appointed as Canada's governor general in 1999. She served in the role until 2005. Her speeches were elegantly written and skilfully delivered. In her installation speech, she talked about Canada, her family's history and her childhood experience as an immigrant from Hong... Continue Reading →

October 11, 2019 0

John Turner, Brian Mulroney debate free trade, Oct. 1988

John Turner (left) debates Brian Mulroney on free trade, 1988 The mother of all election debates occurred in 1988 over free trade between Canada and the US. Brian Mulroney had defeated John Turner and the Liberals in the 1984 election. Mulroney scored a coup in the televised debate that year by attacking Turner for making... Continue Reading →

September 18, 2019 0

J. S. Woodsworth, no to war with Germany, Sept., 1939

James Shaver Woodsworth had an almost prophetic status among members of his CCF caucus and party. Woodsworth was also a pacifist. When Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and it became obvious that Canada would likely soon be at war, the caucus held a wrenching internal discussion in which most members disagreed with Woodsworth,... Continue Reading →

September 2, 2019 4

W. L. Mackenzie King and war on Germany, September 1939

After Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933, he rearmed Germany and pursued an aggressive foreign policy which saw him annex both Austria and then the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia in 1938. Initially, Canada’s Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King supported British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in his decision to sacrifice Czechoslovakia by appeasing Hitler. But... Continue Reading →

August 27, 2019 2

Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine on self government, 1840

The British were embarrassed by a rebellion against their colonial administration in Lower Canada (now Quebec) in 1837. Lord Durham was sent to Canada to study the situation and he decided assimilation of the French Canadians was the best solution. He proposed a single government for Upper and Lower Canada, which would have only English... Continue Reading →

August 18, 2019 0

Gruending speeches interview in Beyond the Hill

I belong to a group called the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians, and they have a publication called Beyond the Hill. Their current issue carries an interview with me by Wade Morris about my recent book Speeches That Changed Canada. He asks not only about the book and the political speeches contained within it, but... Continue Reading →

July 16, 2019 0

Mackenzie King, Diamond Jubilee of Confederation, 1927

Canadians celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 and Canada Day ten days later. The first national observance of Dominion Day, as it was known then, occurred on July 1, 1927, which was the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1867. The centrepiece in Ottawa was a radio address by Prime Minister Mackenzie King. To... Continue Reading →

June 22, 2019 0

Jacinda Ardern on New Zealand mosque massacre, March 19, 2019

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's youthful prime minister, is stepping down. In 2019, Dennis Gruending featured her eloquent speech following a horrific mosque massacre in Christchurch in March 2019.

March 21, 2019 1